Geography
Placing Lefebvre
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Geographers have extensively used Lefebvre's concept of space as a social product as a framework guiding urban and political critique. Lefebvre articulates social space through a primarily ontological engagement: he describes a complex and multi-faceted object that exists in three simultaneous but distinct, co-producing registers. The famous "triad" has become canonical within Anglophone geography, but the implications of this ontology for knowing or researching the object of "(social) space" often remain implicit. This paper suggests that recent scholarship on place-making helps to address the latent epistemological challenges of operationalizing Lefebvre's triad. We trace linkages and gaps between Lefebvrian space and contemporary theorizations of relational place. Re-examining social space through the lens of relational place highlights the potential for links between epistemologically diverse recent research and twenty years of Lefebvre-inspired critique.
Publication Title
Antipode
Publication Date
2015
Volume
47
Issue
5
First Page
1279
Last Page
1299
ISSN
0066-4812
DOI
10.1111/anti.12155
Keywords
Lefebvre, ontology, relational place, social space, urban geography
Repository Citation
Pierce, Joseph and Martin, Deborah G., "Placing Lefebvre" (2015). Geography. 345.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_geography/345